Things to do in Sydney this weekend

James Raggatt graduated from NIDA's prestigious acting course in 2015 and by 2016 received a Sydney Theatre Award nomination for best male actor in a musical, alongside industry luminaries David Campbell, Anthony Warlow and Brent Hill. In Youth and Destination, he's stretching a different set of creative muscles, serving as both writer and director. The play is said to take its stylistic inspiration from Caryl Churchill (and told across 60 snapshot scenes, it seems not too dissimilar to her Love and Information) and Roy Andersson. It's a look at the things we face in this century, told from the perspective of young people, and has been in development at Kings Cross Theatre for more than three years. The cast is Jack Angwin, Georgia Blizzard, Gloria Bose, Julia Christensen, Maree Cole, Skyler Ellis, Alex Malone, Bardiya McKinnon, Nikita Waldron and Ross Walker.

Content warning: this review discusses suicidal ideation. Sami (Yalin Ozucelik) wants to die. He has been living in a displaced person’s camp for several years. It’s not one of the bad ones like Nauru or Manus – we’re assured in an early fourth-wall-breaking aside – but it’s still such a long time to live outside of the world. Sami has a string of abandoned dreams and denied visa applications behind him, and he’s thinking of suicide. His wife Maria (Victoria Haralabidou) and her mother (Paula Arundell) are alarmed and begin the fight to convince Sami he has something to live for. But everyone else in the camp can’t wait for Sami to pull the trigger; his death can turn their personal plights into a public cause célèbre. The group following Sami gets bigger and their arguments over who will get mentioned in Sami’s suicide note get more heated as they argue their cases to this dead man walking. You’ll be a celebrity, Sami, they promise, if you write about us. If you say you did it to draw attention to girls’ education. Or to protest dodgy foreign aid organisations. Or for art. And then, they have an idea: why don’t they throw him a party right before he dies? After all, this is what Sami wants... right? Nikolai Erdman’s subversive play The Suicide, which was banned in Stalinist Russia and led to the arrest of Erdman and other creatives, has been adapted and contemporised here by director Eamon Flack and the company of actors. It’s now a madcap dark comedy with a healthy

It’s August 1944. General Dietrich von Choltitz (John Bell) paces a hotel room in the heart of Paris. His orders have arrived: to ensure that Germany doesn’t lose its grip on the city – which seems inevitable – he must destroy it. A network of explosives has been laid. Millions will die. Landmarks will crumble. It’s expected to take, all up, about 20 minutes. But Paris still stands today, the city of lights. So what happened to make the General defy his orders? The answer to this history-changing question is the subject of Diplomacy, a French play by Cyril Gély making its Australian debut with a translation by Julie Rose. It details a tense and frequently funny clandestine meeting between the General and Raoul Nordling (John Gaden), the Consul General of Sweden in Paris, a French-born national. He’s come to plead the case of Paris – attempting to show the General the beauty of the city and trying to access his essential humanity. Essentially, it seems like the plan to save the future of France’s crowning jewel is to launch a full-scale charm offensive against this upstanding officer of the Third Reich. The charm is the angle that stands out strongest here: Nordling is unflappable, good-humoured and quick-witted, though it feels more sitcom than charm masterclass here in the intimate Ensemble theatre, which is full to bursting with Gaden: his laugh lines are broadly telegraphed and Bell’s resistance is more cantankerous than dangerous. It’s The Odd Couple: war edition. Th

Contemporary Australian city life bursts off the stage with playfulness and incisive commentary in Going Down, a new play by Michele Lee. Natalie (Catherine Davies), outfitted in Gorman and carrying a Marimekko tote around Melbourne, has written a sexually adventurous memoir: Banana Girl. But readers at a book talk in regional Victoria – and even her lefty friends (played by Josh Price and Naomi Rukavina) – want to know why her memoir isn’t as ‘Asian’ as early-twenties-literary hotshot Lulu Jayadi (Jenny Wu). Those sensitive accounts of family hardships might feel too model-minority trauma-porn to Natalie, but they’re flying off the shelves and selling out talks at the Wheeler Centre. So what’s a young writer to do? Lean into her modern sex-positive persona with a new book called 100 Cocks in 100 Nights? Or should she write about her Hmong heritage for a crack at the Miles Franklin? Davies is unstoppable as Natalie, who, high on sugar and her own ideas, darts from scene to scene with unflagging energy. She’s rude to Lulu, who turns out to be something completely different from her pure persona (Wu does sensitive, warm work here) and her friendships start to suffer as Natalie becomes obsessed with the publishing world and her place in it. So what is the right thing to do? Which stories matter? Do some matter more than others? Lee’s play grapples with these questions, drawing on her own life experience (Lee has indeed written a book called Banana Girl) to create a rich comedy

There’s been plenty written recently about the value of satire in effecting political change, asking whether the form has lost its bite. One question seems to hang above it all: if satire were enough to bring down a leader, would a Cheetos-coloured man still be sitting in the White House? There’s no shortage of mockery of the current leader of the free world, but little seems to stick. Bertolt Brecht’s 1941 play The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui tells the story of a small-time gangster who heavies his way to a position of absolute power within the vegetable trade and city politics, using evasion and violently ruthless coercion. It’s a gripping piece of crime fiction with plenty of bloodshed, betrayal, corruption, twists and turns. But it’s also a meticulously crafted allegory for the rise of Adolf Hitler, and a satire made of more incisive stuff than anything you’ll see on Saturday Night Live. Of course, it wasn’t Brecht’s play that brought down the Nazi regime, but by transporting the rise of Hitler to the capitalist world of Chicago, he was able to explain the inexplicable. This Sydney Theatre Company production directed by artistic director Kip Williams, with Hugo Weaving in the title role and a new adaptation by Tom Wright, isn’t so much concerned with explaining how Hitler came to power, but explaining how democratic systems can be quickly compromised and fascism can flourish. Weaving is nothing short of astonishing in the central role. He’s a ruthlessly driven figur

Firass Dirani is best known for his work on TV and film (Underbelly: Golden Mile, House Husbands, Hacksaw Ridge, Power Rangers Mystic Force) but is set to return to Sydney stages after a long absence. He'll be appearing in Lucy Prebble's 2012 play The Effect, an unusual romance which takes place during a clinical trial for an unspecified drug. The play had a 2014 showing at Sydney Theatre Company, but the Old Fitz Theatre's production, by artistic director Andrew Henry, will be a far more intimate affair posing big questions about attraction, love and the connections we form. Dirani is joined by Emilie Cocquerel, Emma Jackson and Johnny Nasser.

There are few public figures more fascinating than Catherine McGregor, who has filled all of the following roles: cricket commentator, columnist, cricketer, speech writer for Australia's Army Chief, ADF member, Australian of the Year finalist, close friend of Tony Abbott, transgender advocate and the highest ranking openly transgender member serving in Australia's military. Sydney Theatre Company will explore the many facets of the much admired but frequently divisive McGregor in a new play written and directed by Priscilla Jackman. It's based on a series of startlingly honest interviews with McGregor, who's been essential to the production's development, and is almost entirely in her own words. Actor Heather Mitchell will step into McGregor's shoes, continuing on her roll of killer performances at STC, including in Cloud Nine and Top Girls. She's joined by Nicholas Brown, Andrew Guy, Chantelle Jamieson, Ashley Lyons and Georgina Symes.

The Hayes Theatre might be best known for taking on big musicals, but cabaret is returning to the 110-seat theatre. Natalie Gamsu, who recently starred in the Hayes production of Darlinghurst Nights, will play Carmen Frida Leon Davidovich, the fictional love child of Frida Kahlo and Leon Trotsky, in this original cabaret. On this last day of her life, she tells the full story of her life. iOTA, a bona fide rock musical theatre and subversive cabaret star in his own right, has penned the fiery songs. There are also supporting performances from Stefanie Jones and Andrew Kroenert and direction from emerging talent Shaun Rennie.

Urzila Carlson stand-up star is sort of a huge deal in NZ and has won basically every award available to a Kiwi. She now consistently sells out shows around Australia, packing in audiences with her straight-shooting style. So make sure you book early to catch one of the most amiable and lovable – but totally fearless – comedians we know in this year's Comedy Festival.

Rose Matafeo's star has been slowly on the rise for the last few years, but she had a major breakthrough with her new show, Horndog. It's attracted stellar reviews at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and a nomination for the prestigious Barry Award for best show. Local audiences might know her better from her TV appearances on shows like Have You Been Paying Attention, the BBC's Have I Got News For You and in a scene-stealing turn as a brainless manager in ABC's Squinters. But Matafeo is most at home on the stand up stage, and she's very quickly become one of the hottest acts on the circuit.

This is a review of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival season of Now. Is Daniel Sloss a sociopath? That’s the question at the core of the Scottish comedian’s new show, Now. When Sloss was just nine years old, he successfully answered a single question that, according to Reader’s Digest, can only be answered by sociopaths. His nan was immediately horrified, but all these years later Sloss has realised the test was mostly bullshit. It’s clear that although he can be a bit of an asshole – he happily admits that many deaths aren’t tragedies, or even unwelcome – Sloss is not exactly what you’d call a sociopath. But the question offers a brilliant launchpad for him to dive into rants about the evils of pulp in orange juice and the necessity of death. The ‘differences between men and women’ shtick might be the most tired trope in stand-up, but he manages to make it feel mostly fresh by explaining why an unsolicited dick pic might not have quite the same impact as an unsolicited nude from a woman. Sloss is just 27 years old, but he’s somewhat of a veteran in the comedy world, having started in stand-up at just 17. Spending that time growing up in the spotlight has made Sloss a master craftsman, but it's also given him the ability to fearlessly tread into dark and sensitive areas. He does this mostly successfully in Now, although some kind of content warning might be useful: it’s not difficult to imagine that Sloss’s long description of an incident of child grooming – p

Sydney Comedy Festival takes over key Inner West venues for a month from April to May, with a line-up of international, local and interstate comedians across all genres. This year includes international favourites like South African-New Zealander Urzila Carlson and Irishmen David O'Doherty and Jason Byrne. Daniel Sloss is heading our way from Scotland, alongside British stars Ross Noble, Stephen K Amos and Jamali Maddix. The American cohort includes Michael Che, Shawn Wayans, Tom Segura and Ari Shaffir, and Canadian DeAnne Smith is returning. And if you're looking for something a little bit different, this year's festival features a showcase of South African Comedy Allstars. And unlike many allstars shows, the line-up for this one is made up of all stars: Tumi Morake, John Vlismas, Alfred Aidriaan, Robby Collins and Dusty Rich. Of course there are plenty of local favourites such as Cal Wilson, Fiona O'Loughlin, Kitty Flanagan, Matt Okine, Rhys Nicholson, Tom Gleeson, Aunty Donna, Demi Lardner, Nazeem Hussain and Dilruk Jayasinha. The good people at Sydney Comedy Festival are also throwing their weight behind a flotilla of new talent through a mentoring and promotion initiative called 'FRESH'. You can see any of the shows by these artists for just $15.

On the last Friday of the month head to the Gaelic Club (above GT's Hotel) for this stand-up room, run and emceed by Alexei Toliopoulos and Nikko Malyon. Click through the Dates & Times tab to see line-ups for each date!

Sydney's comedians are pretty fond of this cosy comedy club; more importantly – so are you, voting it Best Comedy Club for the last two Time Out Sydney Comedy Awards. With an intimate vibe and weekly shows featuring at least two names you know and guests you may not, Happy Endings also has the benefit of being beneath El Rocco Room, for pre-show noms or post-show beers.

This weekly Friday-night stand-up smackdown features a headliner and emcee with six shorter support slots from local talent. Even better: Staves brews its own ales, and there's plenty of choice on tap.